Extrinsic Motivation: Integrated Room Sunrise Simulator

A Hackaday Prize entry that didn’t make the semifinal cut but deserves its own featured post is this wireless alarm clock that simulates a sunrise in the morning. It was created by [Ceady] and connects to an in-wall dimmer that slowly but surely increases the light over 10 minutes to help gently wake a sleeping person up . The Wireless Interface controls the speed of the illumination mechanism and has the ability to turn the lights off when the snooze button is pressed. Is is a neat little hack that brings together a typical alarm system and in-house lighting in a nice internet-of-things type of way. We foresee items like this being used in everyday household bedrooms in the near future.

Circuit schematics have been uploaded to the Hackaday.io page, along with detailed project logs and a list of the component’s parts. A video of the alarm clock being tested out comes up after the break:

It’s remind me what I build 30 years ago: an analog ramping up dimmer for a 500W light bulb (had a diameter of 15 cm), when an external timer switched on, light get “smoothly” from incandescent filament to full power in 5 to 20 min selected with a potentiometer.